Review: The Golden Tap: The Inside Story of Hyper Funded Indian Startups

The Golden Tap: The Inside Story of Hyper Funded Indian Startups by Kashyap Deorah
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a phenomenal book on the start-up ecosystem in the country. The author is an entrepreneur and tech geek who has summed up his personal experiences into a book.

It is more about his experiences in starting internet-based companies and selling these off to corporates at a profit. However, he has described the world of internet e-commerce companies, private equities and venture capital funds accurately. In-depth research matters in a non-fiction book and you have loads of it in this book for which I need to credit the author, some with exact dates. The footnotes in the book were really helpful. Lots of name-droppings in the books that you actually feel awed by the fact that the author has had the good fortune to meet and be friends with some of the biggest names in the e-commerce industry.

However, the drawback is that, throughout the book, one gets the feeling which we all secretly abhorred that millionaires and successful entrepreneurs are all product of IITs, IIMs, Stanford, Yale et al and there is there is no place for commoners or people with average education from second-tiered institutions. It also pays a tribute to IIT Bombay and its hallowed precincts, the author and most of the people featured in it being its alumni.

It was interesting to read how the author's Indian friends / mentors missed the bus in investing (how someone missed out investing in Facebook during its early days of incubation), rivalry between Snapdeal, Amazon & Flipkart and the detailed investment figures.

However the title needs to be tweaked a bit with the word "Inside" being removed since it appears to be misnomer. There is no inside scoop about the industry or some of the founders of hot internet companies which I expected. Considering that the author had access to people who are considered stars in this corporate world, he could have dwelt some more "gyan" on the more well-known companies and its origins, successes and failures. But still a very interesting read for someone who is curious about the start-up ecosystem and how it works.

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Review: Stateline

Stateline by Dave Stanton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A fine book to read if you have nothing in hand and would like something easy in hand.

The plot is about a private eye hired to investigate the murder of the son of a rich businessman and how the entire county sheriff's department is involved in murky dealings with the mafia or the mob. However the motive or the lack of it disappointed me. The fast narrative and action makes up for the lacklustre climax.

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Review: A Game of Thrones

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was my first fantasy fiction and to say that this was stupendous and magnificent would be an understatement. The story flowed like a river. The imagination and the creativity of the author is commendable. I loved the slight twist of common words which we use everyday which the author has used in the book ("Ser" for sir, "name day" for birthday, "Maester" for master and such others) to give it a medieval touch. The book has a wide array of characters and each of the character stays unless he or she dies. There is never a dull moment and you want to go on turning the page and never keep the book down. I took about 45 days to finish this tome and now I have a GOT hangover . I think it will stay for a couple of days more.

The story is about a king who dies leaving the kingdom to be reigned by his closest confidante and friend called the Hand of the Sword who is the lord of Winterfell. The kingdom is then usurped by the king's son in connivance with his mother who executes the lord. There are plots and sub-plots with multiple twists and turns. The characters are etched so beautifully, that you feel for each of them for the travails they go through. Believe it or not, there are even ferocious direwolves and you will love them for their unshakeable loyalty ! I loved the characters of Eddard, Robb Stark, Ser Jorah Mormont, Jon Snow and Arya Stark. But Tyrion Lannister takes the cake. The dwarf with the meatiest role. You will just love him for his go-to-hell kind of attitude. The whole book feels like beautiful painting painstakingly drawn by the author. No wonder this got made into a TV series.

Still 5 more to go on my shelf in this series !! I am totally impressed.

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Review: The Highway Man

The Highway Man by J. Alchem
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Two and a half stars for the book (if you can call it that) and half a star extra for the first story.

Got a copy in exchange for a review, courtesy Sidra Ahmad and the author.

The book is a collection of three short stories with a common theme - love. The first story "Catherine" was very good and the end was unpredictable. I liked the way the character of Dr. Rusenvelt was etched even better than the protagonist Nicholas Seium.

The second story, "Sidza", was the most boring one, with actually no story to talk about. It was actually supposed to be an emotional one with love oozing throughout the story. Maybe fans of romantic stories might like it. It was too mushy for my liking.

The third story is "Highway Man" which again could have turned out to be decent one had the author dwelt on main story than the relationship between father and son. He could have dwelt more on the backstory of the character Jihan but somehow the plot falls flat. But still it is a decent story to read.

The book is a light read and short, can be finished in about 45-60 minutes. More apt for readers of romance.

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Review: Guilty Minds

Guilty Minds by Joseph Finder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a first Finder for me. I am not disappointed at all. The story is fast and kind of edge-of-the-seat thriller. Nick Heller is hired by a high profile power broker / attorney to investigate charges on a liaison between a Supreme Court judge and a call girl and prove wrong the allegations levelled by a gossip website Slander Sheet. Later the call girl is found dead and the twists begin ending with an unpredictable climax.

I loved the character of Nick Heller and Mandy Seeger. The writing is good and the story just flows. Commendable writing skills which keeps the reader engaged throughout. As in all feel-good stories and novels, the hero manages to escape death by a whisker each time. It was a good book and I enjoyed reading this.

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Review: Blemishing the Odds

Blemishing the Odds by Harish Penumarthi
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is not a story. The book starts with a prologue where a father narrates his school days to his kids. This is more like a memoir rather than a story. Everyone can relate to this book. However, there are a lot of shortcomings which I noticed while reading the book. Firstly, this could have been edited. It looked as if the book was published without a thorough editing job. Secondly, a story has to be engaging enough to keep the reader hooked and make them want to know what happens next. Here, the book fails miserably. Cuss words, first kiss, coming of age experiences, experiments with cigarettes and alcohol are all fine as it is given at that age. But where is the story ?

Coming to the story, Raghav meets Trisha in the 8th grade. He is a lazy and incompetent guy while Trisha is the exact opposite. Opposites attract. Spending 3 years together, circumstances change. Duffer boy becomes smart and hardworking. Passes school with flying colours. Both separate and they meet again. Lots of tomfoolery between them in those 3 years. That sums up the story.

There is a reference to surfing the internet by Raghav somewhere in the book. If you think a bit, Raghav is actually narrating his story to his kids who are 18 and 14 years of age. So he must be at least 45 given that he has two kids. It would have been at least 30 years back when he was in school, which may be circa 1987, if not earlier. India did not have the internet at that point of time..at least it was not accessible to kids. Another irritating thing which I came across was the word"awesome". It was used at least about 50 times in the entire 170 page book. Moreover, which Indian dad will narrate his love life and first crush in school to his kids just because they are pestering him ?

Bad editing or no editing spoils the book. The author has tried to delve deep into his four main characters, Raghav, Trisha, Dad and Mom but that's about it.

The climax is awful and unbelievable. One fine day, Raghav is suddenly sent to Mumbai to study and the day he lands he meets his lady love. That ends the story (sorry, there never was a story !). The one good thing I liked was how the author drew up the Indian parents' mentality of constantly pushing their child to study which is prevalent throughout.

Now comes the epilogue. Raghav's kids ask him to complete the story. He tells them that he will some other time. Is there a sequel to the book ?

The author being a debutante, I wish him success for future.

PS: - I thank the author who gave me the book for an honest review.


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